It’s hard to build a pyramid on a budget. Sure, we have machines and sturdy materials on our side, but the Egyptians really knew how to stretch their dollar. They used the cheapest labor, didn’t have to pay for insurance, and even had their creations double as tombs. But factor in ethical practices and good construction basics, and building a pyramid is still time-consuming and expensive—even in today’s world.

John Simonson, an estimator for Silverite Construction, said, “It would be rather costly, to say the least,” especially factoring in that slave labor isn’t exactly an option. “It would cost a couple billion dollars I’m sure with paper engineering, insurance based on risk,” he estimated.

To provide an idea of how grand the project would be, he compared building a pyramid to extending the 7th Avenue subway station. Such a task doesn’t seem so magnificent to the average citizen, of course, but in construction, Simonson said, “Man, this is unbelieveable.”

After deciding on the right location, finding durable material that can be treated with chemicals so as not to decay, and creating the strongest structure, Simonson predicts, it’s possible—it just may not be the best thing for the environment.

Simonson said, “You’re not destroying anything unless you put it in the middle of the jungle.” Environmentalists might disagree with all the machines at work, but we can’t reasonably expect someone to recreate an Egyptian wonder with clean energy and eco-friendly practices, too. Or can we? The challenge is on.

One response to “Don’t Know Much About Pyramid-Building?”

Alia are you sure they used slave labor? Zahi Hawass, an egyptian archeologist and Egypt’s Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs says that they didn’t use slaves. A recent discovery, a cemetery of the workers who build the pyramids revealed that they were not slaves.
“The pyramid builders were not slaves but peasants conscripted on a rotating part-time basis, working under the supervision of skilled artisans and craftsmen who not only built the pyramid complexes for the kings and nobility, but also designed and constructed their own, more modest tombs”.
It was always thought they were slaves but this recent discovery proved otherwise. This webiste provides a lot of info: http://www.drhawass.com/events/cemetery-pyramid-builders